{"id":2934,"date":"2014-06-29T20:14:45","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T03:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/?p=2934"},"modified":"2016-10-10T18:18:02","modified_gmt":"2016-10-11T01:18:02","slug":"solid-and-liquid-homily-for-the-solemnity-of-saint-peter-and-saint-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/solid-and-liquid-homily-for-the-solemnity-of-saint-peter-and-saint-paul","title":{"rendered":"Solid and Liquid: Homily for the Solemnity of Saint Peter and Saint Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Saint

Saint Peter and Saint Paul<\/p><\/div>\n

We have kind of an unusual circumstance this year.<\/p>\n

Instead of celebrating the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time,
\nwe\u2019re celebrating the Solemnity of Saint Peter and Saint Paul,
\nwhich always occurs on June 29.<\/p>\n

Usually when a feast falls on a Sunday, the feast gets skipped.
\nIt\u2019s rare that a saint’s feast would take precedence over a Sunday.
\nAnd when a feast does supersede a Sunday
\nit\u2019s usually a feast of Jesus, or Mary, or Joseph.
\nBut today the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time gives way
\nto our remembrance of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also unusual that we celebrate two saints on the same day,
\nespecially since those two saints already have other days during the year
\non which they\u2019re commemorated.<\/p>\n

And so here we have two saints,
\nwho already have other feast days,
\nbeing celebrated together,
\nand replacing the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time.<\/p>\n

That says something.
\nBy giving this feast such prominence
\nthe Church is telling us something about these two people Peter and Paul
\nand their importance in our lives and in the lives of the entire Church.<\/p>\n

The Scriptures give us an insight into what that importance is,
\nand they also help us to see how the lives of Peter and Paul
\nmake a difference in our own lives.<\/p>\n

First we see that Peter and Paul have several things in common.
\nThey were both leaders in the early Church.
\nPeter was the leader in Jerusalem and ultimately the leader in Rome.
\nPaul was a leader among the different church communities he established throughout his travels:
\nCorinth, Galatia, Philippi, Ephesus,
\nand all of those places he established churches and then later wrote to.<\/p>\n

Both Peter and Paul were so influential that they were arrested and jailed.
\nAnd so in many ways they led similar lives.<\/p>\n

And yet there were some differences in their lives as well.
\nWe can see this in the ways they are described.<\/p>\n

Peter is called by Jesus in the gospel today as \u201cthe rock.\u201d
\n\u201cYou are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.\u201d
\nAnd Paul calls himself a libation, he says he\u2019s being \u201cpoured out like a libation.\u201d
\nSo you could say that Peter is solid and Paul is liquid.<\/p>\n

And I think that\u2019s important.
\nI think that\u2019s really the key to understanding the meaning
\nof these two men being celebrated on the same day.
\nBecause they illustrate two important aspects of the Church
\nthat we don\u2019t want to lose sight of.
\nThat the Church itself is at the same time solid and liquid.
\nHere\u2019s what I mean:<\/p>\n

First, Peter was solid, the firm foundation.
\nHe was confident and bold.
\nHe was the spokesperson for the apostles
\nand he\u2019s the one who was bold enough to declare,
\n\u201cYou are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this is also the same Peter who is going to say, just a few verses later,
\n\u201cNo, you\u2019re not going to suffer and be killed, Lord.\u201d
\nAnd at the Last Supper when Jesus was washing the disciples\u2019 feet,
\nhe is going to say,
\n\u201cYou\u2019ll never wash my feet, Lord.\u201d
\nAnd Peter is the one who said,
\n\u201cI will never deny you.\u201d
\nYou know, Peter wasn\u2019t always on target.
\nIn all of those moments his confidence and passion were clearly visible,
\nand yet he occasionally misunderstood the message.
\nJesus had to correct Peter.
\nHe had to tell Peter, \u201cGet behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
\nYou are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.\u201d
\n\u201cI will go to Jerusalem, I will suffer, I will be killed.\u201d<\/p>\n

And at the Last Supper Jesus had to say to Peter,
\n\u201cUnless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.\u201d
\nAnd bold Peter says: \u201cThen Lord, wash not only my feet, but my head and hands as well.\u201d
\nAnd after Peter\u2019s three-time denial he asks Peter three times,
\n\u201cDo you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me.\u201d<\/p>\n

But despite all of Peter\u2019s misunderstandings,
\nJesus saw in him what the Church needed.
\nHe saw in him a firm foundation.
\nPeter was that solid rock upon whom Christ would build his Church.<\/p>\n

While Peter is the solid rock, Paul is the libation.
\nA libation is a drink that is poured out as an offering to God.
\nBefore taking a drink, the Greeks would pour some on the ground
\nto honor a god or goddess.
\nPaul thinks of himself here as a libation as he writes from prison.
\nHe is about to die, his life is about to be poured out
\nfor the sake of God.<\/p>\n

Peter is the rock, Paul is the libation.
\nPeter is solid, Paul is liquid.<\/p>\n

A rock is solid and firm, but it stays in place.
\nThat is its virtue, that is its strength, but it is also its limitation.<\/p>\n

You know, the very remains of Peter are under Vatican Hill,
\nand the church, St. Peter\u2019s Basilica, rests right on top of his bones.
\nHe is literally and figuratively the rock upon which the church is built.
\nBut the Church was never meant to stay in Rome.<\/p>\n

Paul is like a libation pouring out of that rock and flowing through the world,
\ncoursing out among all the peoples.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like the story of Moses striking the rock in the desert
\nfor the Israelites.
\nMoses struck the rock and water came from it.
\nPeter is like the rock, and Paul is like the flowing water.<\/p>\n

Paul carries the message
\nto the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Philippians,
\nto the Thessalonians,
\nand on from there to the ends of the earth.<\/p>\n

And yet, he too, recognizes the need to have the rock that is Peter.
\nIn his letter to the Galatians, Paul writes about the times that he met Peter.
\nPaul tells how he described to Peter
\nthe gospel he had been preaching to the Gentiles.
\nPaul says he wants to make sure what he was doing is true to the gospel.
\nPaul understands the importance of having that solid foundation,
\nand he recognizes Peter as that Rock.<\/p>\n

And so Peter and Paul remind us this weekend
\nthrough their lives and through the images that describe them
\nthat we as a Church are to be both a solid foundation for the world
\nand a life-giving libation poured out as an offering to God.<\/p>\n

Peter and Paul are different and yet one.<\/p>\n

In our own lives we may identify with one more than the other.
\nWe may identify with that solid foundation that never changes,
\nand the security that comes with that.<\/p>\n

We may also identify with the fluidity of our faith,
\na fluidity that sees it lived differently in different places at different times.<\/p>\n

The world needs the comfort of the solid rock of the Church,
\nespecially in these sometimes chaotic and unsure times.
\nIt\u2019s good to have solid rock under our feet.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the world needs to know
\nthat the Church is not some cold edifice of granite, uncaring and unmoving.
\nThe Church is also a libation, a sacrificial offering to God
\nthat cares for the poor, the widow, the orphan,
\nthat stands up for the marginalized and the weak.<\/p>\n

And what is true of the Church is only true
\nbecause it also true of God.<\/p>\n

The Solemnity of Peter and Paul takes precedence today
\nbecause of how these two apostles reveal God to us.<\/p>\n

It is God who is the rock, and it is God who is the libation.<\/p>\n

When the winds of chaos, tragedy, and doubt swirl around us,
\nit is God who anchors us, who keeps us safe, who gives us a firm footing.
\nAnd when we are thirsting for life, for a full life,
\nit is God who pours out his own Son as an offering
\nso that we might have life
\nand have it to the full.<\/p>\n

And so today Peter is a reminder of the rock solid foundation of God\u2019s love for us,
\nnever fading, always faithful, ever present.
\nAnd Paul is a reminder of how God poured himself out for us,
\nsacrificing himself until blood and water flowed from his side.<\/p>\n

We gather here around this altar to receive that
\nsolid foundation and that life-giving offering,
\nso that we can be a rock and a libation for the world.<\/p>\n